ALLAH AL WAHHAB

ALLAH AL WAHHAB heart emoticon

Around 20 minutes before Amr was shot and killed, I called him. I was worried but he quickly quelled my fears and said to me: "don’t worry, I’m on my way home now."

And he was on his way home.

Except it wasn't the home that either of us had imagined. It wasn't the home where he would be sitting next to me telling me about his day and having a meal with his family. It was his true home – the home most of us forget about until we actually get there.

"Verily to Allah we belong, and to Him we shall return."

Amr returned to Allah. Not to punish me or his family. Not to cause us sleepless nights, or sadness and anxiety. And certainly not because some criminal "decided" to take his life.

He returned to Allah because Allah owns him, and He decided it was time.

Allah (swt) is Al-Wahhab, The Giver of gifts. He continuously gives us gifts to bring us closer to Him and to help us thank Him. But these gifts we have in our hands aren't for us to keep forever. We don’t own them, Allah does. We just have them for a short period of time.

We attach our hearts to the physical gifts of which we are in possession. We love the gifts, we spoil the gifts, we hold tight to the gifts. But we ignore the Gift-Giver. Then when He takes the gift away, we become angry and ungrateful – as though we were the true owners of that something or that someone.

But we own nothing. We don’t even own ourselves.

Allah (swt) gave me Amr as a gift, for a time. By taking this gift away, Allah (swt) taught me more than I would have ever known had Amr still been with me. He taught me about pain and about courage and sacrifice. He taught me to yearn for a home – a true Home that is eternal. He taught me that no matter how much I dig my heels into this world, I will still return to Him at the time and place He wills.

You see, sometimes we need the gifts He gives us, and sometimes we need for Him to take them away. Perhaps only then we will understand our need and love for the source of those gifts